Field
This disclosure is generally related to distribution of digital content. More specifically, this disclosure is related to a method and system for efficient communication of a collection of distinct interests.
Related Art
The proliferation of the Internet and e-commerce continues to create a vast amount of digital content. Content-centric network (CCN) architectures have been designed to facilitate accessing and processing such digital content. A CCN includes entities, or nodes, such as network clients, forwarders (e.g., routers), and content producers, which communicate with each other by sending an interest packet for content and receiving a content object packet (or a manifest) in return. A CCN interest and a content object (or a manifest) are identified by their unique names, which are typically hierarchically structured variable length identifiers (HSVLI). An HSVLI can include contiguous name components ordered from a most general level to a most specific level. A manifest is a content object which indicates a collection of “member” content objects based on a name for each member content object. A manifest can be represented in a tree-like topology, and a member content object can be a data object or another manifest. An entity in possession of a manifest can retrieve the member content objects by transmitting one interest for each member content object based on the indicated name. Manifests are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/231,515.
As an interest packet is routed through the network from a content requesting node to a content producing node, each intermediate CCN router adds an entry in its pending interest table (PIT) corresponding to the interest and forwards the interest to the next CCN router. When a matching content object packet is sent from the content producing node back to the requesting node, it follows the reverse path of the interest. Each intermediate CCN router forwards the content object along the requesting or arrival interfaces listed in the corresponding PIT entry, and subsequently removes the PIT entry, indicating that the interest has been fulfilled.
The current CCN protocol is based on a one-to-one symmetry. That is, one interest is used to retrieve one content object or manifest. However, when the names of multiple content objects are known a priori, or obtained from a manifest, a requesting consumer may realize an additional burden in sending one individual interest for each content object. Furthermore, each intermediate router stores one entry for each symmetrical interest and content object exchange. This may result in an inefficient system and decrease the effectiveness of data distribution in the network.